Vilnius begins private farewell for former prime minister Kazimira Prunskienė

A private farewell for Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė, the first prime minister of restored independent Lithuania, began in Vilnius on Saturday, LRT and BNS reported. A state funeral is planned for next week.

Prunskienė died on Thursday in her 84th year.

“The public is expected to be able to pay their respects on Wednesday and Thursday. The state funeral is planned for Thursday at the Signatories’ Hill in Antakalnis Cemetery,” Gedas Salyga, the prime minister’s representative, told BNS.

According to Salyga, final decisions on the state funeral are expected to be made at government level on Monday morning. “A private farewell is currently taking place at the family’s request,” he said.

Lithuanian leaders have described Prunskienė as one of the most important creators of the restored state. They said she contributed to the restoration of independence, the establishment of the first state institutions and economic reforms, and Lithuania’s international recognition.

Before entering politics, Prunskienė worked as an economist at a housebuilding plant in 1964 and 1965. She graduated with distinction from Vilnius University in 1965, specialising in economics, and worked there for 21 years as a lecturer, senior lecturer and later associate professor. She also conducted academic work at universities in Hungary and other countries.

From 1990 to 1992, she represented the Verkiai constituency after being nominated by the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis and became a deputy of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas. She worked on its Economic Affairs Commission.

Prunskienė served as prime minister from 1990 to 1991 in the first government, becoming Lithuania’s first woman prime minister. In 1990, she was the first Lithuanian politician to meet US President G. Bush, UK Prime Minister M. Thatcher, German Chancellor H. Kohl and French President F. Mitterrand. The source said that after these meetings, M. Gorbachev was forced to negotiate with Lithuania.

In 1993, Prunskienė established a private consulting firm, serving as its president and business consultant for three years. She later worked as a professor at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, although the university was not her main place of employment.

Prunskienė founded and chaired the Lithuanian Women’s Party, which later became the New Democracy Party. In 2001, she became chair of the Union of Peasants and New Democracy Parties. She was elected to the Seimas in single-member constituencies in 1996 and 2000.

In 2001, Prunskienė received Germany’s highest award, the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, for exceptional service. She published more than 400 academic articles on economics in the Lithuanian and foreign press and authored several dozen books.

In 2005, the Union of Peasants and New Democracy Parties decided to change its name to the Lithuanian Peasants Popular Union, and Prunskienė was elected its chair. The party failed to clear the five-percent threshold required to enter parliament in the 2008 Seimas election, although it won three seats in single-member constituencies.

Prunskienė also sought Lithuania’s presidency. She ran in the 2004 election, reaching the second round with Valdas Adamkus after a successful first round. She received 46.66 percent of the vote in the runoff and finished second, with Adamkus winning the presidency.

She ran again in 2009 as an independent candidate and finished fifth. Dalia Grybauskaitė won the election in the first round.